Egyptian government to introduce e-voting system, ensure future allegations of fraud
I’ve previously praised Estonia’s internet voting system, not so much for the concept (unnecessary) , but their execution. Internet voting is fraught with challenges and Estonia has done an admirable job of creating a system that addresses them. But it’s not easy to administer an e-voting system; Estonia had to rewrite laws and spend considerable effort to make theirs work. So I got a little scared today when I read that Egypt was planning on introducing an electronic voting system for their upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.
Electronic voting can mean both internet voting, or simply automated machines; it’s not clear what they are referring to here. The mention of Egyptians overseas voting leads me to believe they are talking about internet voting, which would be a disaster. This could, of course, simply mean automated voting, which would be slightly less of a disaster. Indonesia, the Philippines and India are all examples of non-Western democracies that have implemented automated voting; the success of such programs is subjective, but generally acknowledged. All of those processes, however, took considerable time to develop (not five months!). While I have heard that India was advising Egypt on election administration, I find it hard to believe they would recommend moving to this system so quickly.
This leads me to believe they may actually be thinking about internet voting. This actually might be better than an automated system, as it would not require buying thousands of machines (and training people how to use them). Internet voting, however, is far from secure. I would also think a high profile election like Egypt’s would attract top hacker talent – some political, some bored teenagers – from around the world. So don’t’ be surprised if internet votes make Ruby the next president of Egypt.
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[...] voting in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections in September. As an article in Democracy and Society pointed out, it is still unclear whether Egypt plans to implement electronic voting through machines [...]
What portion of the Egyptian population has access to the internet? I can’t believe they would do this.
I think around 20 percent. From what I’ve gathered since, they are referring to automated machines. Apparently India is indeed helping Egypt run elections and the latter is interested in India’s system. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-05/india/29383962_1_iidem-s-y-quraishi-evms
The simple answer is if its done right computerized voting will be..significantly better than paper ballot voting with no drawbacks at all. It will however give real time numbers as to the total people who have voted and what areas and..age groups are voting.
Hi David!
The Estonia model can be transferred to the Egyptian population. Security know-how there is very sophisticated. No reports of hacks. Two things are needed.
One: cell phones for all voters, as in Estonia. Egypt isn’t far from this.
Two: secure servers in various voting districts, so that voters can log on and vote. The servers would support a voting website, PC owners could also use it.
Using several different servers would insure defense against DOS attacks. They will need biometric voter registration, and then hand out secure PINs.
Every country in the world, where the population can buy decent cell phones, can have Internet voting. Honest, democratic elections can be held in all these countries.
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
Internetvoting@gmail.com
There’s not a lot of specifics here, but I see no way, given the technology being used, to guarantee that ones vote is confidential, one of the core principles of any truly democratic voting system. Every cell phone task can be tracked, and the user would never know — one would have to trust that those “features” would be turned off, and how could that be verified — it would have to be done by the cell phone service provider at their facilities. The idea is interesting, but as always, the safety and security of the system (and the protection of voting rights) is in the HOW.
According to Tarvi Martens, the designer of the Estonian system, security and privacy are assured because each voter uses a digital signature tied specifically to his or her citizen ID card, and the vote itself is encrypted. “I can say we are more secure than Internet banking. I would guarantee it,” Mr. Martens said.
http://t.co/6WDqfo3